I don't know about doing a refi, I think it depends on your situation and rates.

Screenshot of the legislation below: Depends where you are and if they know there are renters

And you'll have the best rate/points options with a primary residence.Option #2 is great, especially if you're willing to move into one of the units (because the down payment minimum is just 5% or 3.5% depending on program), but as you mentioned it's really tough here to find small multifamily here.

These loans are for a minimum $100K to $1-1.5M (different loan guidelines depending on the max loan amount).

Depending on where the rental is, that might have an affect on what people are looking to stay in.

Its either "enough" or "too many" depending on what's going on today.  

Charleston etc. is that folks there are HIGHLY dependent on local attorneys to do their paper work/ escrow functions prep deeds etc etc. 

I only allow tenants to pay on the 1st of the month but I would consider alternate payment schedules dependent on the situation and tenant if they asked.

Do you need an S-Corp depends on your overall tax situation and profit you are expecting form this flip.This post does not create a CPA-Client relationship.

@David SamIt depends on a number of factors.